NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A regular brisk walk may help
women going through menopause improve their mental well-being,
a new study suggests.

Researchers found that middle-aged women who exercised
regularly had lower levels of stress, anxiety and depression
around the time of menopause than those who did not exercise
regularly.

The findings, published in the journal Medicine and Science
in Sports and Medicine, add to evidence that physical activity
can benefit mental, as well as physical, health.

"With the aging population, physical activity represents
one way for women to stay mentally healthy," Dr. Deborah B.
Nelson, the lead researcher on the study, said in a statement.
"Physical activity can help throughout the menopausal
transition and afterwards," added Nelson, a public health
researcher at Temple University in Philadelphia.

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The findings are based on data from 380 Philadelphia women
who were 42 years old, on average, and premenopausal at the
beginning of the study. Eight years later, 20 percent were
menopausal and another 18 percent were in the late transitional
phase.

The researchers found that women who got moderate to high
levels of exercise reported lower stress levels than inactive
women did. Among postmenopausal women, those who exercised
regularly had lower stress levels and were less likely to have
anxiety and depression symptoms.

Exercise did not, however, seem to protect women from the
physical symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes.

"Physical symptoms like hot flashes will go away when you
reach menopause," Nelson said, "but mental health is something
women still need to think about postmenopause."

Importantly, Nelson pointed out, women need not work out
intensely to get a mental and emotional lift.

"In the urban setting, these women walked outside on city
blocks or in shopping malls," she said. "Groups could organize
to take walks after dinner. It didn't require going to the
gym."